Page:On the Coromandel Coast.djvu/22

10 scarcely believe that he saw aright. Seventeen thousand rupees in Government notes were fastened in neat rows upon the walls of the hut. No owner could be discovered for them, and the lucky old fisher-king became the happy possessor of a part of the sum. With it he bought more nets and logs for boats and built his house. To this day the family is wealthy in fishing-tackle; and the women wear jewels which mark them as rich in comparison with their neighbours.

When the monsoon has blown off some of its fury and settled down into gentle breezes the sea is comparatively smooth, although it never sinks to the gentle ripple of the southern English coast in summer. There is always a line of breakers even in the calmest weather. They roll in from the Bay of Bengal, as the waves roll in from the Atlantic on the French coast and fall in subdued thunder upon the sand. The Muckwa braves the elements at most times of the year, and the waves must be very boisterous to keep him from his calling. At dawn the log-boats are launched and are paddled out of sight, where the long deep nets are floated. The water teems with fish. The catch is sold to middlemen, who dispose of it to the market stall-holders. A considerable quantity is sent up country, and a large percentage is salted for native use. The salt fish of India is an abomination to the nostrils of the European. When curried its strong odour is almost lost in the pungent spices with which it is prepared. To a palate vitiated by garlic, assafoetida, and fiery arrack it is doubtless acceptable, but the European regards it with suspicion as being a possible source of cholera. It also bears the evil reputation among the medical men of producing a form of leprosy known as elephantiasis, common on the Coromandel Coast. The people themselves will hear nothing against their much- loved diet, and ascribe the malady to another cause.